FleishmanHillard’s TRUE is an award-winning online magazine that features insights from thought leaders in the worlds of communications, marketing and media. Our goal is to create a dynamic community of executives, academics, authors and practitioners—a platform on which issues will be debated, problems analyzed, innovations proposed and best practices celebrated. We launch a themed issue quarterly and update weekly, but we’re looking for new ideas and new writers every day.

FleishmanHillard’s TRUE is an award-winning online magazine that features insights from thought leaders in the worlds of communications, marketing and media. Our goal is to create a dynamic community of executives, academics, authors and practitioners—a platform on which issues will be debated, problems analyzed, innovations proposed and best practices celebrated. We launch a themed issue quarterly and update weekly, but we’re looking for new ideas and new writers every day.

Digital & Social Media

Brands Actually Recognizing Diversity

By Nils Thorson (FleishmanHillard)

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What Happened:

Diversity has been a common brand pillar for decades, but claiming you are pro diversity and altering your brand to support diversity are two very different practices. Throughout 2015 we have seen some major political, cultural and corporate changes to further incorporate diversity into the world. Some of these changes, from big companies and small, have been more positively reviewed than others.

What This Means for Brands:

One example of a company taking diversity to a new level is Tru-Colour Bandages – a small company creating bandages to match all skin tones. Traditional Band-Aid bandages were originally designed to match the skin tone of Caucasians, but after 95 years of bandage production, they had never created a line of bandages designed for any other skin tone. Tru-Colour came in with a simple, smart solution based in diversity and was acclaimed for their efforts.

A larger company embracing diversity at a deeper level is Honey Maid. The typically traditional graham cracker company recently released a campaign entitled “This Is Wholesome” highlighting a variety of families from gay parents to single parents to mixed-race families. The campaign was meant to show that parents are parents regardless of how they look and that Honey Maid products bring joy to every family they touch.

These are two examples of companies either changing their product offering or changing their core brand to better fit the diversity of today. Consider the products/services your brand offers and ask if they truly reflect your target consumers. Have your target consumers changed in the past 10 years? How have they changed? Altering your brand and brand offerings to better reflect the diversity of your audience isn’t just progressive, it’s good business.